


a familiar fire

by firelrd



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Gen, Zuko understands, azula unlearning what was instilled in her, fuck the comics, he wants to be there for his sister, just a lot of metaphor, the idea that zuko wouldnt help azula after the agni kai makes me ill, the start of azula redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27621089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firelrd/pseuds/firelrd
Summary: He moves, and she flinches.He sits on the floor in front of her, legs crossed carefully, hands in his lap. He looks up at her, and only then does she avert her eyes.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 114





	a familiar fire

Zuko closes his eyes and inhales deeply. He holds his breath for a long moment, then lets it go as he opens the door.

The room is dimly lit and completely empty, except for the chair placed in the middle of it. Azula sits there, her hands restrained behind her back and her legs tied to the chair to prevent any attack she might decide to throw. 

He steps inside, and closes the door behind him.

Azula growls when she realizes it’s her brother who has disturbed her peace. She glares at him from behind her uneven bangs, eyes alight with a fury familiar to Zuko. He knows that fire. He’s felt it. He felt it in the metal ship he called home for two years, he felt it in the icy tundra of the North Pole, he felt it in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se. He doesn’t feel it anymore, but he sees it in Azula’s eyes.

“What are you doing here? Have you finally decided to kill me?” Azula hisses. Zuko looks at her for a long moment, trying to figure out if that was just another one of his sister’s strange attempts at a joke. His veins grow cold when he comes to the startling conclusion that she’s completely serious. She’s serious, looking at him with nothing but pure hatred and a brow raised as if in challenge and it almost makes him shrink away. 

Almost.

“Of course not. I’m here to help you.”

He moves, and she flinches.

He sits on the floor in front of her, legs crossed carefully, hands in his lap. He looks up at her, and only then does she avert her eyes.

“Help me?” She scoffs, voice thick with that anger Zuko knows so well. “Why would you ever want to  _ help  _ me, after all I’ve done to you and your friends?”

“Because I know it wasn’t you.” The words earn him an incredulous eyeroll.

“Of course it was me, you idiot. I quite literally killed the Avatar.”

“That’s not what I meant, I mean…” he trails off, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a strong breath. He’d almost forgotten how frustrating conversing with Azula was, especially if she didn’t want to be talking. “It was you, but it wasn’t  _ you.  _ It’s what Father wanted you to do. It’s what he made you do.”

“He didn’t  _ make  _ me do anything. I did what I had to for our Nation.” She leans forward as much as she can, getting in his face. The legs of her chair scrape against the floor with an echoing screech. Zuko’s eyes stay on hers, unrelenting in their sympathy. He watches the flames in her irises reach roaring heights, unparalleled strength. “That’s all I’ve done my whole life. I’ve acted for the good of the Fire Nation and for the world. I’ve brought glory and power to our family’s name. All you’ve done is get banished, fail at your only mission, and become a traitor to the state. And now you’re the one on the throne. But even with that fancy little hairpiece, I know exactly who you are, Zuzu. You’re a pathetic coward. A complete failure. I don’t need your help and I don’t want it. Now  _ get out.”  _ Twin blue flames erupt from each of her nostrils as she says the final words, a last attempt to seize control, and Zuko feels them singe the tip of his nose. 

He doesn’t move an inch.

“Insulting me won’t make me leave you alone, Azula. I know what you’re feeling; I’ve been there before.” She scoffs again, but he continues before she can rudely interrupt. “Before I joined Aang, I truly believed that what I was doing was right. That it was  _ good.  _ It’s what we were taught, how we were raised.” Azula had slumped back in her chair at this point, watching Zuko carefully. “‘The Fire Nation is the greatest civilization in history. The war is our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world,’” he quotes the words with a deep tenor to his voice and a finger in the air, imitating a past teacher that used to rattle off the saying every time a student would ask why the Nation was constantly at war. Azula forgets where she is and laughs loudly at the impersonation before she can stop herself; a sound that Zuko remembers hearing only on the beach at Ember Island all those years ago, a sound pure and light and innocent, full of life. He doesn’t smile, but he wants to.

Her jaw sets, and the fire is back. He continues. 

“When I was banished, all I wanted to do was capture the Avatar and win back our father’s love, as well as the Nation’s. It was my drive. It took traveling the world and seeing firsthand what happens to places the Fire Nation invades, the needless destruction and tragic loss of innocent lives, to truly understand the state of the world. To realize that my drive, the passion that I clung to, was terribly misplaced. I believe that your drive was keeping the love that I lost; staying in Father’s good graces, and the Nation’s. You saw firsthand what happens to children of the Fire Lord when they misbehave. I believe that when you saw what he did to me, the humiliation I endured in front of hundreds of people, you understood what you had to do. I can’t blame you for that, and I don’t blame you for the things you did to avoid his wrath and keep his approval. He is the villain here, Azula. Not you. Deep down, I think you know that.” 

Azula doesn’t look at him. She keeps her eyes trained on her lap, hair falling in her face to cover it up, but Zuko sees a single tear seep into the fabric of her pants. As it did, Zuko could feel the fire shrinking, the flames getting weaker.

She says nothing.

Zuko stays.


End file.
